


The Best Part of my Losing Streak

by ladivvinatravestia



Series: Drifting, Falling [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, M/M, Pining, Platonic Flirting, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tribbles (Star Trek), fully-automated luxury gay space communism, green-skinned space babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 11:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19108564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladivvinatravestia/pseuds/ladivvinatravestia
Summary: Bucky doesn’t actually know who his contact will be, or even any other details of what the mission was about; only that he will recognize his contact when he sees them and that his role is to arrange transport for two operatives back to Federation space.  Hence, Rocket, and his ship, the Milano, which Bucky toured earlier and found to be spaceworthy.





	The Best Part of my Losing Streak

**Author's Note:**

> Star Trek is my first and best love, and was even the catalyst for me meeting my best friend of 20+ years. She coaxed me into MCU fandom with “[Straight On Till Morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8692669/chapters/19929772)” which, along with “[Starlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805212/chapters/36785460)” have influenced my casting of MCU characters into a Star Trek universe. This is an AU so it’s not exactly post-CA:TWS, but it takes place shortly after the events that are this universe’s equivalent of the Winter Soldier storyline.
> 
> Thanks to [falashad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falashad/profile) for the beta and special thanks to [AnonCoward](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonCoward/profile) for technical consultations about space.
> 
> Written for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 square B3, “Undercover in a Gay Bar”.
> 
> Additional warnings: mentions of sex work; characters discuss buying and selling one another into slavery; off-screen animal death (tribbles)

The light in the bar is low, and the air is thick with the smoke of some exotic incense that doesn’t manage to quite cover the stench of decades worth of spilled alcohol.Bucky and Rocket had taken care to choose a table with the best view of all the exits, but this place is, by its nature, designed to ensure that those coming in can’t immediately see the whole establishment.“A select club for discreet gentlemen of particular tastes,” which had turned out to be a coded way of signalling that its target clients were men seeking other men, a preference that, for some reason, is still illegal in Orion space.

As Bucky is draining the last of his Romulan ale, he casts his eyes around the bar, and he notes Rocket doing the same.Except for the skewed sex ratio of the clientele, it’s an otherwise unremarkable bar: a dance floor to one side of the bartender’s station, viewscreens scattered on the remaining walls showing two or three different sports being played - Bucky’s not too familiar with what games are popular among Orions, but Rocket seems to be following one of them.

The recorded music that has been playing cuts out and a black-clad Orion server bounds up onto the stage, welcoming the patrons to the club and announcing the evening’s entertainers.Bucky takes the opportunity to scan the bar, looking for his contact.He doesn’t actually know who his contact will be, or even any other details of what the mission was about; only that he will recognize his contact when he sees them and that his role is to arrange transport for two operatives back to Federation space.Hence, Rocket, and his ship, the _Milano_ , which Bucky toured earlier and found to be spaceworthy.

The server ends his announcement with, “And now, gentlemen, to start this evening’s entertainment, I present to you, the Amazing Hawkeye!”

There are cheers from the bar’s many patrons and Bucky assumes that the entertainment, generally, or the entertainer, more particularly, are a popular feature at the bar.The bar’s sound system starts back up with sensuous Orion dance music and the Amazing Hawkeye comes strutting out onto the stage from some hidden entrance.Bucky takes note of it.

Then, Bucky takes note of the Amazing Hawkeye.He’s a stocky, muscular human with light skin and sandy blond hair and when he shimmies out of his purple caftan, he’s left wearing nothing but a very short purple skirt and gladiator-style sandals, with a sheathed knife strapped to his calf.As the music starts, he also proves himself to be quite proficient in Orion dance and if Bucky wasn’t busy keeping an eye out for his contact, he would be more than happy to pay more attention to the entertainment.

A second server, also a black-clad Orion, makes her way to Bucky and Rocket’s table, tray in hand.

“Can I get you boys anything?” she asks, and Bucky has to concentrate on keeping his reaction neutral, because the server is Natasha Romanoff.Bucky suppresses a flinch.She must be his contact, but whose bright idea was it to send him on an op with a person he has a history of shooting at?

Bucky puts his hand over the top of his mug to signal that he’s not ready for another - Romulan ale is still brewed with real alcohol, and Bucky knows better than to start getting intoxicated on a job.Rocket, though, hands his mug over and signals for a new one.Fuck, what kind of alcohol tolerance do raccoons have?

“If you change your mind about a refill, there’s a couple of gentlemen here tonight who’d love to buy you a drink,” Natasha tells Bucky.“And if you’re not planning to drink more, maybe you’d like to get up and dance with some of them?”

It’s an innocent enough suggestion, but it sounds like an order to Bucky.

“Sure will,” he says casually, and drains his mug.

As Natasha is sashaying away, Rocket complains, “Do humies really find that level of hairlessness attractive?”

To be perfectly honest, Bucky doesn’t think he’s ever spent any time before today thinking of Natasha as anything other than a target, but, “Yes, she’s objectively very attractive,” he concedes.“But -” Natasha casts a glance at him over her shoulder. “You know what, xenoanthropology lesson later,” he finishes.Natasha has given him an assignment, for all he knows it might be mission-critical.He tucks his hair behind his ears and heads out to the dance floor, which has now opened up for the patrons to dance with each other.

Bucky dances first with a handsy Tellarite (“you're not that bad-looking for a Terran boy,”), then with a well-tailored Orion bureaucrat (“Marav, at your service.I know decent accommodations can be hard to find on this station; I have an extra room in my quarters if you like,”), and finally with the Amazing Hawkeye himself (“shit, this g-string is really crawling up my ass right now, sorry, that's probably not the kind of thing I should be saying to clients.”)

This last makes Bucky laugh and, if he weren't on the job right now, there’s every chance he would be flirting back.

A second dancer takes the central stage, and the Amazing Hawkeye moves on to dance with another of the bar’s patrons while Bucky casts his eye around for a new dance partner.A humanoid whose species he doesn’t recognize; two weathered-looking Orion spacers - his survey is interrupted by the sound of snarling.He spins around on his heel to find that Rocket and the Tellarite have somehow got into an altercation.

In the next moment he notices Natasha sharing some form of unspoken communication with the Amazing Hawkeye, who shrugs his caftan back on and very casually turns toward a door to the side of the central stage.Natasha next shares a significant look with Bucky, who reasons he should also be making his way out the same door.Unfortunately, he needs to bring Rocket with him and Rocket is currently brandishing a rifle at the Tellarite, who has picked him up by the back of his collar.Bucky sighs internally and wades into the fight.

He puts his right hand on the Tellarite’s shoulder to get his attention, and the Tellarite drops Rocket immediately, wheeling around to throw a punch at Bucky instead.Bucky ducks away, and Rocket smashes the butt of his rifle into the back of the Tellarite’s knee, then dashes off on all four limbs, clutching his rifle between his teeth.

Bucky follows Rocket and the Tellarite shouts insults after them, at least until one of the servers knocks him out with a blow to the face.Marav starts hissing at the server about attracting unnecessary official attention towards the establishment and Bucky takes the opportunity to slip through the side door.Good thing Orion authorities don’t make people leave their weapons at the door.

As the door closes behind Bucky and Rocket, Bucky sees Hawkeye disappearing into a ceiling vent.Natasha is standing back, watching with her arms crossed.

“How the hell am I going to get up in there?” Rocket asks, crossing his own arms.

“Well I can throw you, like that Tellarite did,” Bucky threatens.Natasha glares at him, and Bucky shrugs.Finesse has never particularly been part of his operating style, “ghost story” be damned.

“I’m not getting picked up like some,” Rocket scrunches his face up in disgust, “little _pet_.”

Hawkeye pulls his feet up into the ceiling vent, turns around, and sticks his head back out the access hatch.“You guys coming or what?” he asks.

Natasha gives Bucky a look that clearly means this is his problem to fix, so he crouches down and stays still while Rocket climbs up onto his shoulders.When Bucky stands up under the access hatch, Rocket is able to pull himself up into it and everyone’s dignity remains intact except, perhaps, Bucky’s. 

It’s dark and cramped in the access tunnel and Bucky hits his head a couple of times, as well as getting a much better view of Hawkeye’s backside than he intended, but eventually Hawkeye comes to a halt to open another access hatch, and they emerge from the vents in a dingy hallway smelling strongly of stale cooking grease and occupied by several skittering things that are larger than Bucky would like.Hawkeye has retrieved a couple of duffels somewhere along their route, and from one he hands around changes of clothing for Natasha and Bucky before looking at Rocket and shrugging.Rocket’s whiskers curl down in displeasure but he steps quietly forward a couple of feet to keep lookout on the entrance to the hallway while the three humanoids slip on their new clothes.

“This wasn’t exactly my exit plan, but I guess it’ll have to do,” comments Hawkeye.

They exit the hallway, when Rocket signals that it’s safe to do so, directly into the station’s main food court.It’s full of buzzing neon lights and a thousand conflicting smells and Hawkeye, now dressed like any other generic spacer, makes his way directly to a counter advertising, in bright orange Orion script, “Earthy Eats”.He pays for three slices of what is, optimistically, labeled “pizza” and stuffs the first one in his mouth.

“Mmmff?” he says, offering a slice to Bucky.

Bucky takes the proffered slice and considers the best way to angle it towards his mouth without losing any of the dripping cheese.Rocket swats Hawkeye on the leg and grabs the third slice when Hawkeye lowers it down for him.

Natasha follows the proceedings with a critical eye, then comments “You boys sure know how to treat a lady right.”

Feeling awkward, Bucky tries to offer her his piece of pizza, even though by this point he’s had his fingers all over it, but she waves him off and goes to pick up some kind of roast meat on a stick from a vendor of Orion cuisine.

Food provisions and a change of clothes taken care of, they stroll, nice and casual, down the main concourse, stopping occasionally to examine exotic goods on sale.Bucky assumes that Natasha and Hawkeye’s choices to stop and look at this or that item coincide with moments when their party is in danger of being recognized and detained.They are almost to the bay where the _Milano_ is docked when a very large Orion man intercepts their path.Bucky looks up at the man, mentally reviewing which of his many weapons he can draw fastest, but making no visible aggressive move.

“How much do you want for the -” the universal translator stutters before providing, “- procyonid?”

“Hey!” says Rocket, stepping in front of Bucky and crossing his arms.“You should be asking _me_ how much I want for the cyborg.”

Bucky puts his right hand over his left arm, like he’s self-conscious about it, though in fact it gives him the chance to unsheathe and secrete one of his knives.

“All right,” laughs the Orion.“How much do you want for the cyborg?”

Rocket names a price well in excess of the amount Bucky had been authorized to offer for the transport of the two Starfleet operatives back to Federation space, and the Orion laughs again before leaning down to pat Rocket on the head.

“It tells jokes!” the Orion observes, then offers Bucky a sum barely higher than what Hawkeye had paid for the slices of pizza.Rocket growls and the Orion waggles his fingers in Rocket’s face.

“No deal,” says Bucky curtly, and nods at Natasha and Hawkeye as though they, too, are his slaves, before striding off past the Orion.The last thing he needs is for the Orion to realize that Bucky is not just any cyborg, and that the price on his head in some corners of space is higher still than the price Rocket quoted.If - no, when - they make it back to Starbase 616, Bucky is going to do his very best to impress upon Admiral Fury that the existence of a bounty on Bucky’s head makes it unsuitable and unsafe for him to be sent on any more undercover ops outside the Federation.

 

The _Milano_ ’s crew is already aboard when they get there, and Rocket introduces them - a human, Quill, three humanoids of species Bucky doesn’t recognize, Gamora, Mantis, and Drax, a fellow cyborg, Nebula, and a tree, Groot, the last of whom speaks a language that completely stymies the universal translator.

Quill says, “Rocket, we can’t take on any more crew members.”

“They’re passengers,” says Rocket, but Quill speaks over him.

“We’re already stretching our funds for refuelling with the crew we’ve got.”

“ _Paying_ passengers,” Rocket persists.

“Peter,” prompts Gamora, cocking her head towards Rocket in some unspoken communication.

“Going where?” Quill asks Rocket, crossing his arms.

“Federation space,” Rocket replies, crossing his own arms.

“No way! We can’t go there from here!It’s a closed border!” Quill objects.Fuck, can’t anything go Bucky’s way today?The docking authorization listed Rocket as the captain, but why hadn’t Bucky asked to meet the crew?If this doesn’t work out, his backup transport options are pretty slim.

As Rocket and Quill argue, Natasha surveys the ship and crew coolly.Hawkeye shifts his duffels on his shoulder, and Mantis clutches her hands together anxiously.

Bucky tunes back in to Rocket and Quill’s argument to hear Rocket saying, “Well, fine, if that’s still out of the budget then I have a buyer for them lined up back at the docks.”

“Rocket,” says Gamora in a warning tone, “We agreed no slave-trading.”

“Well, where are they going to find another transport in this shithole that won’t sell them into slavery after taking their money?” counters Rocket.

“Fine,” says Quill, sounding annoyed.“We’ll run the blockades and take them into Federation space.But no more accepting jobs without talking to the whole crew.”

 

As they are easing out of the dock on thrusters, a communication request comes in.Rocket curses and reaches forward to answer the request.The view screen switches away from the interior of the dock to show, of all people, Marav, sitting at his desk in a richly-appointed office.

“Captain Quill, leaving us already?” he asks.

“Uh, yeah,” Quill replies.If he’s trying to not sound suspicious, it’s clearly a failure.

“I regret you were not able to take advantage of our hospitality longer,” says Marav.“But, you clearly have obligations elsewhere.”He leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers.“It would be unfortunate if I had to inform the station commander that your obligations required you to transport known Federation operatives off the station.”

Fuck.They’ve been made?Bucky does his best to fade back into the shadows, and it’s something he’s quite good at, if he has to say so himself.But Hawkeye pushes forward and shoves Quill out of the way to lean in towards the view screen.

“Really, dude?” he asks Marav.

Marav shrugs genially.“It is our way of doing business,” he says.“But I’m certain that if I were to find myself the recipient of, say, a couple hundred additional credits, the necessary personal banking would delay my report to command long enough for the _Milano_ to get several hundred light-years away from the station.”

“We don’t have a couple hundred additional credits!” Quill protests, his voice squeaking a bit.

“I am Groot!” Groot accuses.

Natasha pushes forward to stand next to Hawkeye.“How convenient for you, then,” she says, “that I happen to have a few hundred extra credits in my budget that I need to get rid of.” She proceeds to tap something out on her communicator, presumably the credit transfer.

Marav glances at a notification on his desk, then taps out a communication of his own.“Perfect, and you will have your launch authorization.”

 

Quill, who turns out to be the captain after all, refuses to take the _Milano_ above Warp 3.This is not unreasonable for a civilian ship, and its top speed is only Warp 5, but it does mean that it will be the better part of three days to the border with the Federation.On such a simple course, the ship is capable of piloting itself, so they spend most of their time in the _Milano_ ’s galley, playing cards and telling tall tales about their spacing adventures.Quill pipes popular music from late twentieth-century Earth through the _Milano_ ’s speakers the entire time.It’s great that this part of the mission is so simple, except that it gives Bucky way more time than he wanted to think about his new long-term assignment.

Considering how long he’d been away from Starfleet, and given the circumstances of his absence, Assistant Chief Engineer of the USS _Avenger_ is a better post than he could have hoped for - far better, even.He doesn’t know yet who the other command officers are, but he does know that the _Avenger_ ’s captain specifically requested him for the position.Captain Steve Rogers.Who Bucky had been friends with since before their Academy days, but who Bucky hasn’t seen since he tried, unsuccessfully, to kill him while under Romulan control.

If that were it, Bucky’s sure he could handle it in a professional manner - after all, he shot at Natasha, too, and she’s been behaving as though nothing is amiss.It’s that, as Bucky has regained his memories, it’s come back to him that when he and Steve served together 70 years ago, before - everything - he’d had very strong romantic feelings toward Steve and it wasn’t at all clear that Steve had felt the same way about him.

Well.Maybe Bucky can just hide in Engineering and avoid his Captain altogether.Seems like a solid plan.And he’d been charming and outgoing once upon a time, surely it won’t be that hard to make new friends, shove his romantic feelings to the back of his brain until they disappear.

Something makes a chirruping sound, bringing Bucky out of his maudlin thoughts, and Hawkeye - no, Clint - reaches down next to his seat to pick up some kind of brown furball.

“Oh, hello little guy, what’s your name?” he asks, settling the thing on his lap.It purrs loudly.

Rocket jumps.“Shit, who brought that thing on board?!” he demands.

“What, this little guy?” Clint asks.Natasha gives him a sharp look.

Quill shrugs and says, “Hey, I thought it was cute.”Rocket narrows his eyes at Quill and Quill adds, “I thought Gamora might like it.”

“I do _not_ like it,” says Gamora, eyeing it like something she scraped off the bottom of her boot.As if in response, the thing on Clint’s lap rocks back and forth and emits a growl.

“ _I_ think they’re adorable,” says Mantis, reaching forward to pet the thing.It purrs and jumps into her outstretched hands, but now there is a second furball still sitting in Clint’s lap.“It is so full of love,” Mantis adds, rubbing the furball against her cheek.

“Peter, didn’t you ever study basic xenobiology?” Gamora says, snatching the furball from Mantis.The furball makes a mournful sound and Mantis recoils as if slapped.Natasha grabs the other furball from Clint’s lap.

“Out the airlock?” Natasha suggests to Gamora.

“Nooo, you can’t!” Mantis pleads, and Bucky finds himself joining in with Clint, Quill, and Groot in clamouring for the creatures to be spared, even though he _did_ study xenobiology and has a strong suspicion that the things are tribbles.

Natasha and Gamora look at each other.

“Secure storage locker, then,” says Gamora, and Natasha adds,

“And we’ll hand it over to the appropriate authorities at the first Starbase we make.And you two,” she says, pointing at Bucky and Clint, “should know better.”

 

Despite Natasha and Gamora’s best efforts to quarantine the tribbles, by the next day, there’s a tribble to be found on nearly every surface in the galley.Clint absently scritches one on the arm of his chair as he sips his coffee.Gamora and Nebula stalk around, trying to round up tribbles and contain them in additional storage crates.

Gamora mutters something under her breath, to which Nebula replies, “ _You’re_ the one who’s _dancing_ with him!”

Bucky smiles at their interaction, and when Gamora turns an accusing eye on him, he explains, “I have sisters too.”

Or, well, he did have sisters.They’re gone now, along with everyone else he knew in the past except Steve.He shakes his head - no good to dwell on any of that right now.

Quill, clearly wanting to please Gamora, stands up and dumps the three tribbles that were in his lap into the crate.Drax is speaking softly to the tribble in his hands, Mantis is rubbing another tribble against her cheek, and Groot has several tribbles perched in his branches.Bucky, having poured himself a cup of coffee, sits down in another chair only to find it already occupied by a pair of tribbles.

Only Natasha seems able to disregard the tribbles entirely.She’s been busy tapping away at something on her communicator, brushing off offers of tribbles and coffee and food.Finally near the end of the day, as Bucky and Clint have lost their second consecutive game of Dragon Poker to Groot and Drax, Natasha beckons to Rocket and they head off to confer in another part of the ship.

Quill starts to deal out the next game, then drops the cards, stands up, knocking his chair over in the process, then rushes off to follow Natasha and Rocket, shouting, “Oh, whoa!The patrol ships!Shit!How close are we to the border?”

Bucky looks over at Clint, but he doesn’t seem concerned at all.“Don’t worry,” he tells Bucky, “Nat’s on it.”

“You trust her very much,” comments Mantis, and Clint makes an affirmative noise.“How did you meet each other?” Mantis asks, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hands.Bucky might normally assume that she’s fishing for actual intel on them, but she seems so open and guileless that he really can’t suspect her.And if she’s anything more powerful than just the touch empath she claims to be, she’ll have figured them all out already.

“Oh, she was shooting at me,” replies Clint with a laugh, and Mantis recoils, gasping.

“That was not very nice,” she comments, but Gamora and Nebula trade knowing looks.“James, what about you?” Mantis continues, turning to Bucky.“How did you meet Natasha?”

Bucky’s not sure whether Clint is lying or not, but he doesn’t feel like making something up.The fewer lies you have to tell for a cover, the better.“We were shooting at each other,” he confesses, which earns him a high-five from Clint.

Mantis clicks her tongue in disapproval but Nebula elbows Gamora.“Oh fine,” she admits.“That’s how I met Quill, too.”

“I am Groot,” sneers Groot, but Drax says,

“It is a fine way to meet your mate.”

“Oh we’re not-” begins Clint, but at that moment the power goes out through the whole ship.

“Don’t panic, everybody!” Quill’s voice floats back from wherever he is.

Bucky pitches in with everyone else to secure the chairs and smaller objects before the gravity shuts down, then follows as the others pull themselves forward to the cockpit.Of course, they don’t all really fit inside the cockpit, but they crowd around as best they can.Tribbles float haphazardly, chittering occasionally in distress.

“Our friend Marav,” explains Natasha, “helpfully sent us the blockade ships’ flight path for the next ten days, and the encryption pattern for their sensors.”

“What about the Federation’s blockade?” asks Nebula.

“Well, we’ll want to report the tribble infestation before we dock anywhere,” Natasha replies.

“So anyway, here’s the plan -” begins Rocket.

 

The plan requires several hours of drifting toward the border on minimal life support.The near-silence is spooky.At two hours and forty-eight minutes, the _Milano_ ’s sensors pick up the blockade ships and by two hours and fifty-three minutes, they’ve established the connection that will tell the blockade ships’ sensors there is nothing to see here, move along.When they do, everyone crowded around the cockpit breathes a sigh of relief.

It’s another two hours and ten minutes before the _Milano_ is drifting past the flight path of the blockade ships.It isn’t an especially close pass, but Bucky thinks he can make out the running lights of the rear ship as the blockade fleet disappears into the distance.The tense atmosphere lasts until they’re deep enough in Federation space that Natasha and Rocket deem it safe enough to power the ship back up.Even then, the incoming hail from the USS _Marvel_ sounds too loud when it comes in on the comms and Bucky notices several people startling.

“Shit!” exclaims Quill.

“Peter,” says Gamora warningly, and Rocket says,

“Quill, you’re not wanted in Federation space, are you?”

“I don’t _think_ so?” replies Quill, his voice cracking, and Rocket buries his head in his hands.

But then Natasha is laughing and joking with Captain Danvers over the viewscreen and the _Marvel_ is sending them on their way and Gamora and Nebula and Rocket are looking at Natasha with a new sense of appreciation.

 

The _Milano_ continues to make its way, at Warp 3, toward Starbase 616.It becomes nearly impossible to go anywhere on the ship without disrupting tribbles, and Bucky has his suspicions that Gamora, Nebula, and Natasha are surreptitiously sending tribbles out the airlock.News of their impending arrival at the Starbase has clearly preceded them because they are hailed while they are still several thousand kilometres out and directed to the quarantine terminal.

Waiting for them when they disembark is a much larger and higher-ranking welcome party than Bucky would have expected - Commodore Hill, Commodore Coulson, Steve - no, Captain Rogers - and a blonde human in command red that Bucky faintly remembers meeting before, Commander Carter, maybe?

“Are we…under arrest?” asks Quill cautiously, raising his hands to somewhere around his ears.

“Stand down, Mr. Quill,” says Hill, striding forward to greet the crew of the _Milano_.She ushers them toward the turbolifts and Bucky catches her saying something about arranging temporary accommodations while their ship is irradiated.

The reason for the other senior officers’ presence is revealed when Bucky sees Natasha and Carter sharing a passionate kiss, and Clint and Coulson exchanging a restrained and formal Vulcan greeting while the heat in their eyes tells an entirely different story.Before he has time to process this further, Captain Rogers - no, Steve - is tackling him into a hug with all of the grace and enthusiasm of a golden retriever.And, yep, all of his fight reflexes are still in place from his time as the Winter Soldier.Bucky stops himself at the last moment from dodging away and using their combined momentum to drop Steve to the floor.He manages to turn his reaction into a clumsy pat on Steve’s shoulder instead.Steve looks at him with a goofy, open grin before letting him go.How is Bucky supposed to tell his commanding officer, who he might sort of have a crush on, not to touch him without warning him first? 

 

Steve is waiting for Bucky again when he comes out of his debrief with Coulson, and he insists that they go for a late lunch at the Starbase’s commissary before Bucky reports for duty aboard the _Avenger_.

“So you’ve already met Natasha and Clint,” Steve says.Bucky nods - he’d thought that Natasha was probably part of Steve’s command crew and wondered about Clint.“They’re the heads of the security team.Bruce Banner is the head of the science department and Helen Cho is chief medical officer.Your department head is Tony - “ Steve interrupts himself to greet the man approaching them.“Oh, hey, Sam!”

Sam Wilson, who Steve introduces as his first officer, is an attractive, dark-skinned humanoid with an imposing set of grey and red-feathered wings.Bucky has definitely also seen him before.Fuck.

“Barnes, it's really great to meet you,” grins Sam, holding his hand out for Bucky to shake.“I've heard so much about you.”

“I'm sorry I tried to rip your wing off,” blurts Bucky.

“No, I’m as good as new,” Sam smiles, ruffling his wings out just slightly to show he’s recovered.“But I’m glad you’re going to be on our side now.”

Bucky takes a moment to focus on his breathing.He can do this.He did fine with Natasha this past week.He _can_ work with people he fought when he was under Romulan control.

Steve asks Sam, “Want to join us for lunch?”

Sam looks from Steve to Bucky, then back to Steve.“Not this time,” he says, “looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do.”

As Sam is walking away Bucky asks Steve, “Are you going to tell me your whole command crew is made up of people I’ve shot?”

“Aw, Buck, no, it’s not like that,” Steve says, and it looks like he genuinely believes what he’s saying.“Everybody understands it wasn’t you in there, making those decisions.”

Bucky’s grateful for Steve’s belief in him, even if he can’t quite get there himself yet, so he decides to let it slide, and soon Steve is telling him all about the _Avenger_ ’s last mission and asking him questions about his adventures with Clint and Natasha in Orion space.

 

As Bucky and Steve are finishing their meal, Bucky sees the crew of the _Milano_ taking seats at a table with their drinks.Their trip from Orion space had its ups and downs, but Bucky realizes he had a good time traveling with them and he’d like to bid them farewell properly.Steve lays a hand on Bucky’s shoulder and says he’ll see him later.This time the contact is clearly telegraphed in advance, which means Bucky feels hopeful butterflies fluttering in his stomach instead of a mindless instinct to fight back.No.No use in following that line of thought, not when Steve thinks of Bucky as just a friend and a crew member, and has a new best friend in Sam besides.

Rocket beckons for Bucky to join them and Nebula and Gamora nod cordially.As Bucky nears their table, Drax pulls Bucky into an enthusiastic hug.Well, it’s enthusiastic on Drax’s part.Bucky’s not that small a guy, but Drax is so huge that the hug mashes Bucky’s nose right into Drax’s sweaty chest. 

“You have been a good travel companion, James,” says Drax.

Bucky extricates himself as politely as he can, but is immediately pulled into another hug by Mantis. 

“We will miss you,” she says, before releasing him.

“But we understand, you must leave us so you can be with your mate,” adds Drax.

“Yes, you are very devoted to each other,” says Mantis.

Nebula, Gamora, and Rocket nod knowingly.

“I am Groot,” Groot approves.

Quill looks up from his drink, apparently realizing he’s missed important intel.He says, “What? Who?”

“Steve?No, we’re not - I mean, he doesn’t -” Bucky flounders, but the damage is done.He could have guessed that Mantis would see his feelings for Steve when she touched him, but he’d hoped it wasn’t quite so obvious to non-empaths.

“You just keep telling yourself that,” says Gamora.“Trust me, I speak from experience.”

By this time, Natasha and Clint have pulled up seats at the table, and Bucky says,

“I thought you would still be debriefing with Commodore Coulson.”

“Oh, Clint and Coulson will be debriefing all evening,” says Natasha, with a significant quirk of one eyebrow.

Clint looks down into his drink and says, “Aw, Nat,” but doesn’t bother to deny anything.

After they say goodbye to the _Milano_ ’s crew, the three of them walk together to the _Avenger_.

“We can report on board officially tomorrow,” says Natasha, “but why don’t we take a quick tour tonight.”

It turns out to be a very quick tour, Clint is understandably eager to get to his quarters and drop off his stuff so he can spend the rest of his evening with Coulson.As assistant chiefs in their respective departments, Bucky and Clint merit private quarters, but with a shared bathroom between them.Clint disappears into his side and Natasha looks around Bucky’s quarters, arms crossed.This is the first time he’s seeing them so he hasn’t had any chance to put his own personal touch on them, and they look predictably utilitarian.

As Bucky is trying to decide whether he should apologize to Natasha for shooting her, she says, “You may not think it’s a whole thing about Steve being in love with you -”

“What?!” squeaks Bucky.As far as he’s concerned, he’s the one with inappropriate romantic feelings.

“ - but it was abundantly clear to everyone on the mission to take down the Bluegills that he’s willing to defy common sense and direct orders for you, so if you don’t feel the same way as he does, at least try not to be so dismissive about it when people try to ask you about it.Because Steve may be my commanding officer, but he’s also my friend, and if you hurt him, I will hurt you.”

“I -” Bucky begins, although he’s not sure what he’s going to say.

“Are we clear?” Natasha asks.

“Yes, ma’am, perfectly,” Bucky finds himself saying.

“Good.Welcome aboard the _Avenger_ , Commander Barnes,” says Natasha, and turns on her heel to exit Bucky’s quarters.

So.Steve’s friends, or some of them anyway, think that Steve is in love with Bucky?Bucky realizes he will need to re-evaluate the interactions he’s had with Steve today in light of this new intel, but before he can get to that, and before he can even get to trying to decorate his quarters as a means of procrastinating from thinking about it, there’s an insistent knocking on the door to the shared bathroom.Bucky heads over to open it.On the other side is Clint Barton, holding a tribble.

“I think we have a problem,” he says.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> For this universe’s version of the Hydra reveal and Winter Soldier plot, please see the Season 1 Star Trek: the Next Generation episode “Conspiracy”, but imagine it with Steve and Sam and Natasha instead of Picard and Riker, and with more Romulans pulling the strings behind the scenes.
> 
> For more on tribbles, please see the Star Trek (Original Series) episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations”.
> 
> Visit me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ladivvinatravestia), where my asks box is always open to prompts.


End file.
